Last month, he became a student again when he returned to Auburn to work on getting his degree. On Wednesday night, he took the whole student thing up a notch.

He became a cheerleader.

OK, he didn’t put on the uniform, but he yelled in a megaphone, and got on the court to lead cheers at Auburn Arena as the Tigers—who needed every ounce of motivation they could find—overcame a horrible first half to beat archrival Alabama.

Auburn snapped a six-game losing streak, but early it looked like No. 7 was in order. Alabama led 23-13 at the half—Auburn made just 3-of-23 field-goal attempts.

That’s when Newton arrived at the game, sitting alongside football coach Gus Malzahn. The Carolina Panthers quarterback helped the Tigers flip the script in the second half, outscoring the Crimson Tide 36-14 en route to a 49-37 victory.

“I hate to admit it, but I was paying attention to the student section, and I saw him out there leading cheers,” Auburn forward Allen Payne told AL.com. “I just heard the crowd, and it pumped me up. That’s great he was leading them on.”

Maybe Auburn coach Tony Barbee can convince Newton to ride along for Auburn’s next game: Saturday at Kentucky. Kentucky is 44-2 all-time against Auburn in Lexington, Ky., with Auburn’s last win there coming in 1988 when John Caylor hit a 3-pointer in the game’s closing seconds to knock off the top-ranked Wildcats.